Jon Stewart couldn’t hold it together during his “Daily Show” interview with former Fox News staple and political commentator Bill O’Reilly. Toward the end of their nearly 13-minute back-and-forth, Stewart got up from his desk laughing and literally walked away from the other man.
The interview started off contentious, but Stewart’s big departure didn’t come until O’Reilly claimed that if Donald Trump hadn’t denied the results of the 2020 presidency and “done that” on January 6, “he’d be ahead of Biden 25% in the polls.” “That’s how bad Biden has been for the country,” O’Reilly said.
“Well, I disagree with that,” Stewart replied.
“Of course you do!” O’Reilly shot back. He then pulled out his “proof” for that 25% number. Reading from a sheet of paper, O’Reilly said that, under Biden, food prices are up 20%, gas prices are up 38%, mortgage rates are up 160%, drug overdoses are up 36%, and car insurance is up 125%.
“These are folks. They’ve got to spend that money,” O’Reilly said.
Stewart then brought up his own figures, citing that both America and the world have been impacted by the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and that Trump ran an $8 trillion deficit and spent $1.7 trillion on tax cuts.
“Look at it in relation to the world,” Stewart countered. “I respectfully say, yes, inflation is too high and that hurts American consumers. So what did Biden do to create that, though?”
“I don’t know,” O’Reilly said. “And that’s what I would ask.”
That “I don’t know” proved to be too much for Stewart, who burst out laughing and literally walked away from the desk. After doing a quick lap, he returned to the table to O’Reilly’s clear annoyance and his studio audience’s delight.
“So basically you wrote down on a piece of paper but you didn’t look up the answer?” Stewart asked. “We’re going to need two days on the podcast.” Stewart and O’Reilly’s interview will continue in an upcoming episode of Stewart’s podcast, “The Weekly Show.”
Toward the top of the interview, O’Reilly didn’t shy away from his contentious history with “The Daily Show” host.
“We are able to disagree without hating each other. Now, I truly hate him. But I don’t show it,” O’Reilly said while explaining the changing shape of discourse between Republicans and Democrats.
“You hold it very well,” Stewart responded.
O’Reilly then continued to use his relationship with Stewart to make his larger point. “Now that’s not rewarded, that kind of détente where two people look at life differently isn’t rewarded. The haters get the big money,” O’Reilly said.